Paul List nine (9) separate Gifts given by the God the Holy Spirit to Believers Part 1

1 Corinthians 12:8-9 “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit” NKJV

Paul now begins to disclose some of the specific gifts bestowed on individual believers when they are born from above into the family of God. Paul in this letter list nine (9) gifts that all come from the same source and that is God the Holy Spirit and I will attempt to describe in detail the function of each one of these gifts, but I feel utterly incapable of doing justice to these great words written by the Apostle Paul here, but I pray that you Dear Holy Spirit (the Author of these words) will guide and direct my words for Your Glory Amen! The first of the nine (9) is the gift of the “word of wisdom” and the English word “word” is the Greek word logos which in this context it means reasoning including thought and then something said. The English word “wisdom” is translated by the Greek word sophia which as used in this context means higher spiritual knowledge that cannot be learned from any human teacher; the skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth or the knowledge and practice of the requisites for godly and upright living or supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God.

This gift of the “word of wisdom” is God the Holy Spirit imparting to one of His children a part of His Supernatural ability to dig out of the Word of God deep spiritual truths that are partly from study of the Word of God but not only obtained by regular or normal study of the Word of God as the Apostle Peter wrote concerning the Apostle Paul when he said, “Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:14-16). Peter writes that even he was not given the “wisdom” Paul was given by our Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit’s endowment for the common good of all and Peter was not jealous or envious of Paul’s gift of the “word of wisdom” because he understood that it was our Lord’s prerogative to give gifts to men as He sees fit.

Paul prayed that God the Holy Spirit would impart this gift to the Ephesian believers when he wrote this to them, “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:15-17). The second of the nine (9) is the gift of the “word of knowledge” and we already know what word or logos means as it is used again here in the same context as before but the English word “knowledge” here is translated by the Greek word gnosis which means the act of knowing or understanding the general knowledge of Christianity and the deeper more perfect and enlarged knowledge of Christianity, especially of things lawful and unlawful for Christian right living or moral wisdom.

This gift given to a believer by God the Holy Spirit enables that person to receive illumination from God the Holy Spirit to understand that which is good and acceptable and the prefect will of God and the hope of our calling “in Christ” and to paint word pictures or to give earthly or human illustrations to convey a spiritual truth taught in the Word of God. It is the gift to use human stories to bring to life passages of Scripture to the listener or reader in a manner similar to the way our Lord Jesus Himself spoke in parables to bring to life heavenly truth, but of course no one will be gifted to reach the level of our Lord, but this is the goal of the one with this gift. It is what Paul meant when he continued his prayer for the Ephesian believers when he said, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18).

The third of the nine (9) is the gift of “faith” and this is not the faith we are given when we are born again, but it is an extra measure of “faith” that God the Holy Spirit implants into specific believers. The English word faith is translated here by the Greek word pistis which means in the context it is used here as moral conviction and the constancy or the ability to endure under extreme adverse circumstances coming against the believer or the extraordinary conviction to believe God for miraculous works of His Power in a tough situation i.e., the faith spoken of by the writer of Hebrews when he documented the miraculous things God worked out through the lives of certain believers in the past when he said, “And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” (Hebrews 11:32-34).

The fourth of the nine (9) is the gift of “healing” and this English word is translated by the Greek word iama which means in the context declared here the ability to bring about a cure or an effect of making one better; to produce a remedy, repair, or to rectify a disease or illness; to make one whole. Of course the first obvious understanding of this gift is one endowed by God the Holy Spirit with the dunamis power of God to lay hands on someone diseased or ill and see them made whole instantly such as we have with Paul on this occasion, “And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured” (Acts 28:8-9).

Likewise as declared by the Apostle James here, “Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15). Also God the Holy Spirit works through gifting men or women in medicinal methods to heal men or women of certain illnesses as Paul prescribed for brother Timothy with these words, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Timothy 5:23). The gift of healing also is the ability to speak a proper or appropriate rhema or word from the living Word of God into the spirit or soul of someone afflicted by mental disability or disturbance and bring about healing to that one’s soul as declared by the Psalmist with these words, “He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions” (Psalms 107:20). These are four of the nine (9) gifts of the Spirit Paul list here for the Corinthian believers and us today to understand what presents are waiting to be unwrapped by every born again believer “in Christ” of every generation.

“The chief means for attaining wisdom, and suitable gifts for the ministry, are the Holy Scriptures, and prayer.” John Newton

“By grace I understand the favor of God, and also the gifts and working of His Spirit in us; as love, kindness, patience, obedience, mercifulness, despising of worldly things, peace, concord, and such like.” William Tyndale

“Fish which always live in the depths of the ocean lose some of their faculties, like the Tibetan hermits who always live in the dark. The ostrich loses his power of flying because he does not use his wings. Therefore do not bury the gifts and talents which have been given to you, but use them, that you may enter into the joy of your Lord.” Sadhu Sundar Singh

“God the Holy Spirit endows every believer “in Christ” with a birthday present or gift the moment they are born again of incorruptible seed by the Word of God and it is purely at His discretion as to who receive what gift or gifts and likewise how the gift or gifts are to be employed for the building up of the Body of Christ and for Christ Glory.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…